To view the ARC Approved Artists™ and Living Masters™ Gallery, please click here.

hank you for interest in the ARC Approved™ Artists and Living Master Galleries. The Art Renewal Center was founded in 1999 for the advancement of traditional, classical, humanist art. As a registered 501(c)3, non-profit, educational foundation and one of the internet's leading art resources, the ARC Museum contains over 7,100 artists with over 80,000 images, many of which are high-resolution. Currently the Living Masters Gallery is the third most visited section of the ARC website which is now tracking approximately 5,000,000 visitors, which is roughly as many visitors as walk into the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Our current Living Masters are enjoying further success in their careers from the exposure they receive from their gallery on ARC. A significant number of artists have reported receiving major commissions and invitations for prominent gallery representation as a direct result from their online exhibit at the Art Renewal Center www.artrenewal.org. ARC has become the "go-to" standard for galleries seeking the finest living artists in the world.

ARC, having become the center for artists, collectors, and scholars, is the defining force for Contemporary Realism and excellence. We have in our ARC family an exclusive group of artists whom we have classified into the following three levels of expertise:

ARC Living Artist™ (A.R.C.L.A.) - The artist has dedicated themselves to becoming a realist artist with the wish to express our shared humanity through the visual arts. In addition, an ARC Artist™ has shown competence and understanding in all of the basic building blocks of great art, these being for a painter: accurate drawing, compositional sensibilities, effective use of lighting, the technical ability to use modeling, glazing /scumbling, perspective, tone, hue and successful emotional expression. For a Sculptor: accurate representation of 3 dimensional objects, compositional sensibilities in 360 degrees, the technical ability to create an accurate finish to the surface of the sculpture, successful emotional expression.

ARC Associate Living Master™ (A.R.C.A.L.M.) - The artist has dedicated themselves to becoming a realist artist with the wish to express our shared humanity through the visual arts. In addition, an ARC Associate Living Master™ has shown significant skill in all of the building blocks of great art as defined in the ARC Artist™ description above. They have further developed their skills, experience and body of work to the point where they are in striking distance of becoming a full ARC Living Master as described below.

ARC Living Master™ (A.R.C.L.M.) - The artist has dedicated themselves to becoming a realist artist with the wish to express our shared humanity through the visual arts. In addition, an ARC Living Master™ has mastered all of the building blocks of great art as defined in the ARC Artist™ description, creating fully professional works of art, as well as some identifiable masterpieces. Beyond that, they have successfully created a body of work which demonstrates accomplished facility in their craft that compares to the masters of prior centuries. Their work demonstrates strong, reliable, poetic sensibilities which intertwine great universal subjects, powerful original compositions and mastery over all aspects of the craft, working seamlessly to enhance the chosen subject. They repeatedly are able to "suspend disbelief" in the viewer eliciting empathy which is rooted in our shared humanity.

If you believe you would qualify and are interested in becoming a member of the most prominent realist art foundations and would like to have your work seen by nearly 5 million yearly visitors, who are targeted art lovers, collectors, gallery owners and museum officials, ARC is now ready to review your work.

Procedure

All artists will be judged exclusively on the basis of merit by a minimum of 4 judges from the ARC Board of Judges, whose expertise and credentials are posted on the ARC website. All applicants will be notified as to whether or not they have qualified.

Acceptance into one of the categories above include many benefits:

All ARC artists are set up with a gallery on our website. Living Artists and Masters are allowed up to 30 images of their finest work. This includes 30 high-resolution images and 30 large thumbnails with the title, date, medium and dimensions of each work. Living Artists and Masters may include their biographical and contact information with their gallery of images along with any awards, reviews and commentary (must be in digital ready-to-use format).

All ARC artists are given a Free Membership to the ARC Museum for use of high resolution images.

ARC Artists of Associate Living Master™ status or higher may submit news items of current exhibitions, publications, notable awards, and workshops for possible inclusion in our blog.

All ARC Artists will automatically receive regular ARC updates and prospectus for all upcoming competitions.

All ARC Artists are invited to submit articles and essays for possible publication on the ARC website.

If accepted as a full ARC Living Master™, all classes and workshops taught by you will automatically be considered ARC Approved and qualify for a listing on our Atelier Page and Map.

An artist's work is reviewed approximately once every four years after their gallery is up on the ARC website. This is done by another panel of judges and is the time at which status can change from ARC Artists™ to ARC Associate Living Master™ to Living Master™. This is why it is important for an artist to take advantage of their annual update to add new images and a listing of new awards and shows, so that the judges can see the artists progress as can the rest of ARC's visitors. It is important the world knows an artist is actively painting and creating new works. Changes in status are based solely on merit and the artist's work. No fee is charged for the re-evaluation process.

All items submitted are posted on ARC at ARC’s sole discretion. ARC reserves the right not to place any information or images on the website which it deems inappropriate and to edit submitted materials.

Due to the logistics of having your work reviewed by four Judges, please be advised that artist applications are reviewed in three month intervals. You will be informed as to the results of your application no later than four months from the time of your submission.

Membership Fees

100% of the proceeds from Membership dues and contributions are dedicated to the ARC Salon™, Scholarship and Museum fund and may be tax-deductible. (Please check with your tax specialist)

A $75.00 non-refundable application and processing fee.

An annual membership fee of $300.00 for all artists accepted into the Living Artists Gallery. This fee is due every January and includes one free update a year to add new images and information. (with the exception of full ARC Living Masters™ who only pay the $300 membership fee the first year.)

A one time set up fee of $200.00 is charged to help offset the costs involved in preparing the artists gallery.

Additional images may be included in an artist's gallery at $10.00 per image during the initial set up (only applies if more than 30 are submitted and accepted).

If the Artist wishes a second update a year in addition to the one that comes with the membership, a fee of $150 will be charged.

If accepted as a full ARC Living Master™, the membership for the Living Master's Gallery is free, except for the first year, and the update fee is reduced to $100 after the first year.

There is no additional fee for submitting information on exhibitions for our exhibition page.

Submission of Materials

Signed and completed application form.

A minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30 images of the artist's finest works. This may be submitted in the form of High-resolution digital images as JPEG or TIFF files supplied on a CD.

Image preparation: Each submitted image must include the title of artwork, medium used to create the artwork, date, and dimensions.

Sculptors must submit a minimum of 2 images of each sculpture from different views.

Current CV, résumé and/or biography.

A non-refundable $75.00 application and processing fee must be included with all submissions.

To view the ARC Approved Artists™ and Living Masters™ Gallery, please click here.

Download Application

If you are interested in becoming a member of one of the largest realist art foundations and would like to have your work seen by nearly 5 million yearly visitors, who are targeted art lovers, gallery owners and museum curators, ARC is now ready to review your work. Questions regarding this application may be directed to Kara Ross atkara.ross@artrenewal.org [ MSWord | PDF ]